Unlit Cigarettes and Broken People
by alexberkley
Summary: Reagan has never given anyone a second thought. Cather never really enjoyed life outside her room and the fantasy world of Mages. Wren was not the best of people in 8th grade. And everyone has a lot more secrets than they are letting on.
1. Chapter 1: Nepheligenous

**This is like my first story for anything on here ever so be kind. I don't even know if anyone will want to read this because I have seen literally 0 Reagan x Cath fics. However, when I read the book I was super surprised that in a book about slash fiction there wasn't a fandom who did the same. I'll continue this if anyone likes it. Please review and tell me what you think so I know if anyone actually wants me to read this, what I could improve etc. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own fangirl but I will assume the author won't mind me borrowing her characters since she wrote a whole book about doing this.**

Nepheligenous:producing clouds of tobacco smoke

* * *

Reagan walked nonchalantly up the stairs while Levi carried the boxes behind her. She flipped her long auburn hair over her shoulder and opened the door to the room at the end of the wall. It looked a bit like her room at the mental hospital. Incredibly small, just enough space for two beds and two desks. She immediately flung herself on the bed on the right and took out a cigarette.

"Ugh, I hate that I have to share a room with a freshman!" Reagan sighed and Levi smiled as he put the boxes he was carrying down next to what was now her desk.

"Hey who knows maybe she'll be hot" Levi winked at Reagan. Back in high school, Levi had been her boyfriend. They were madly in love or so they thought until college happened and they both realized the world actually had so much more to offer. Reagan repeatedly cheated on him. This helped Levi realize that he had never really been in love with Reagan… she didn't really have the right parts.

Now, Levi was happily settled with his buff boyfriend Jandro. Reagan on the other hand spent her days shagging her way around campus. She was currently juggling five boyfriends and two girls. Reagan didn't discriminate on pleasure as she always said.

"Not likely," the tall girl huffed as she walked down the hall and entered the bathroom slamming the door behind her. She was fixing up her hair when Levi called out, "Reagan your roommate is here!"

"Coming!" she kicked the door to the bathroom open and strutted back over to the room, still balancing the unlit cigarette between her lips. She halter when she saw the unknown girl standing in her room. Her eyes made a quick scan of the stranger. Chuck Taylors, blue jeans, a Simon Snow shirt, glasses and brown her up in a messy bun. A slight blush tinted the brunette's cheeks and ears when Reagan finished her inspection and extended her hand. "Reagan, and you are?"

"Cather," Levi lifted an eyebrow at Reagan, "but everyone calls me Cath."

Reagan glared at Levi over Cath's shoulder and then moved past her to grab her coat. "Pleasure, we're gonna head on out. I took that side but it doesn't matter. So if you have feng shui issues or something feel free to move my shit. Levi smiled at Cather running his fingers through his dark blonde hair as if it wasn't disheveled enough. Then followed the taller girl out. "Coming?" he asked peeking back through the door.

Reagan didn't hear Cath's answer but she figured what it was when Levi caught up to her on his own. She silently thanked whatever God was up there for Levi not questioning her about her extremely out of character reaction back there. The taller boy helped her into his truck even if their height difference wasn't much. "Forever the gentleman," Reagan huffed as Levi jumped into the driver's seat.

"Apparently, I'm not the only one," he smirked taking the cigarette from her mouth and mockingly imitated her checking Cath out then extending her hand. "Reagan, and you are?" he said in a needlessly husky voice. So much for not mentioning it she thought.

"Jerk," she pulled out a new cigarette and lighter from her purse. Lighting hers before tossing the lighter to Levi. She was just beautiful… shit I mean hot.

Levi lit his cigarette and rolled down the windows. If there was something Levi was good at was sensing when it is time to keep quiet. He'd known Reagan forever and the last time he'd seen her this distraught had been that night. He started the truck and drove with no particular direction. He knew better than to think Reagan could eat right now.

After a while of smoking in silence Reagan reached over and turned on the radio full blast. When Same Love by Macklemore started playing soon after on Levi's playlist she burst out laughing. "You are such a fucking cliché" she poked his arm and he smiled back warmly, happy to see a smile back on his friends face.

* * *

Cath had just finished unpacking her things. Her dad and Wren had gone to Wren's dorm to take her things. Cath didn't want to go see her sister be all chummy with her new best mate Caroline. She felt betrayed that her sister wouldn't want to be roommates. The only time they had been separated in their life was in the 8th grade when Wren had gone to a fashion summer camp in Washington DC for two weeks. That trip had nearly killed them both and they had spent the next 2 weeks sleeping in the same bed.

_Wren had just arrived from Washington and already she was crying from relief. She jumped into her sisters arms and they spinned around and hugged. In that moment Wren wanted to tell her everything that had happened the real reason she was crying. In their 13 years of age she had never lied to Cather and doing so broke her heart but not as much as the simple thought of her sister turning away from her._

_Unknown to her Cather was carrying similar feelings in her gut. Her last two weeks had been a time of unexpected occurrences which she simultaneously wanted to share with Wren and didn't. She did not know how her sister would react. Wren had always been so concerned about appearances and reputation Cath doubted she'd ever truly accept her as well… whatever she was. It wouldn't be because she thought it was wrong though, it'd be because of the social stigma that came with it._

_That night both girls climbed together in Cather's bed and held whispered conversations while their father worked downstairs. Cather knew as soon as Wren fell asleep she'd have to go down and insist that he go to bed. For now it was just the two of them both weighed down by their secrets seeking comfort they could only give each other._

_"Hey… Cath…" Wren whispered running her hands through her sisters hair, "I missed you"_

_"yeah… me too sis" Cath turned them so she was the big spoon and convinced her sister to try and sleep. Soon both girls had drifted off to sleep the last word on Cather's mind being __**Elizabeth.**_

* * *

**Thank you for reading this I hope you at least mildly enjoyed it. Remember to leave a quick review and tell me what you thought and if you think I should continue this. I'm ridiculously nervous about posting this so know that any kind of feedback would probably make my year.**

**Love and all that,**

**Alex**


	2. Chapter 2: Qualtagh

**I'm going to try to write one chapter of this every week. Thank you so much to Jenna and the other guest who reviewed last time it means a lot and the one person who followed the story. This chapter is dedicated to you guys :D. Pls Review, follow, favorite if you like it so I can know and keep writing. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fangirl but if I did there would me like 200% more Reagan.**

Qualtagh: the first person you see after leaving your house

* * *

Levi sat out in the hallway chuckling to himself, _Rapey_ he thought. Cather was an interesting girl for sure. His smile soon faded however as he saw a very disheveled Reagan coming towards him down the hall. Her hair was a mess and she was wearing the same clothes as last night, her jacket slung over her shoulder messily. She walked barefoot, her boots in the hand. She hadn't made it to her room that night, Levi could tell. She walked up to Levi raising an eyebrow when she saw him sitting outside.

"Isn't Cath in?" Levi nodded and stretched his hand up so she could help him up. "She thought a strange boy in her room would seem a little 'rapey'" he made quotations around the word with a toothy grin. Reagan shook her head and entered the room giving Cather a strange look, which quickly softened when she noticed that Cath looked like a deer in headlights. She turned to Levi who had already made himself comfortable on the bed and tossed him a ball of sheets from one of her boxes. "Make yourself useful" she turned to Cath once again with a smirk this time, "Hey."

"Hey," Cather replied and then stood there, waiting for Reagan to say something else. Reagan decided to leave it at that; she was never very good at small talk that was Levi's area. Everything was Levi's area really. Reagan started rummaging through the boxes searching for her box. It was about the size of a shoebox and made of tin. It was star trek themed and was made to look like a compilation of a few comics had been glued onto it. It was Reagan's most prized possession she had it since she was about 5. Meanwhile, Levi struck up a conversation with Cath, which Reagan tried really hard not to care about.

"How was your first day?"

"Fine,"

"You're a freshman, right?"

Silence.

"Did you find all your classes?"

"Yeah…"

"Are you meeting people?"

""Not intentionally" Reagan let out a snort at that. She chastised herself for making it known that she was engaged in the conversation. Cather was a dork if she'd ever met one but she was cute and Reagan couldn't help but be intrigued.

"Where are your pillowcases?" Levi asked smirking at Reagan as if to say _I knew you were interested._

_Shut up!_ Reagan glared at him, "Boxes," she hissed. Reagan finally found her box and opened one of the drawers in her desk placing it carefully inside. She noticed Cath looking at her curiously, as if she was trying to puzzle her out. Cather's eyes then turned to Levi who was already working on taking Reagan's things out of the boxes and putting them in their place. Years of friendship had a few benefits.

"So, what are you studying?"

"English"

Pause.

"What are you studying?"

"Range management"

"Please don't start talking about range management," Reagan groaned. "Let's make that a rule, for the rest of the year. No talking about range management in my room." Levi went on daylong rants on the subject and although Reagan was used to tuning him out, she didn't want to put Cath through the torture.

"It's Cather's room, too," Levi said smiling flirtatiously at Cath to make Reagan angry.

"Cath," Reagan corrected.

"What about when you're not here? Can we talk about range management when you're not actually in the room?"

"When I'm not actually in the room…" she smiled a self-satisfied smile, "I think you're going to be waiting out in the hall."

She did not see Cath smiling at the back of her head.

* * *

Reagan sat doodling idly in class tuning out her professor. She generally found all art teachers wanky and fake, but this one was especially pretentious. He spent 99% of his time making self-congratulating comments about his art. She couldn't stand him so she spent 100% of his class doodling in her notebook. She thought studying art history was stupid as well. He droned on and on about the importance of studying other artists and their style before making your own. Reagan made continuous strokes with her pencil her hand becoming dusted in led as it dragged across the paper.

"Why do humans make art?" The professor asked bringing Reagan out of her trance. She looked down at her paper and was surprised to find a detailed sketch of her roommate. In the sketch she was looking down her glasses sliding slightly down her nose. Her cheeks had soft freckles and her hair was up in a messy bun that Reagan could already tell was her signature hairstyle. Reagan caught herself smiling down at her paper and quickly shuffled her things so the sketch was at the very back of her pile of materials.

_Why do we make art?_ Reagan drew in big block letters in the center of a new blank page in her notebook. Other people's answers bounced onto the paper as well as her own.

"To create!"

_To destroy._

"To feel less alone!"

_To get rid of our company._

"To remind us that life goes on!"

_To make the world stop_.

"To turn our demons into beauty!"

_To stop hearing their voices. _

"To make others see the world through our eyes!"

_To see the world through the eyes of others._

"To find ourselves!"

_To lose ourselves in the process._

"To think!"

_To stop thinking._

"To make the world more beautiful!"

_To express the ugliness of humanity. _

"To be noticed!"

_To disappear._

* * *

Cather shuffled in her seat feeling uncomfortable and nervous as she waited for the professor to arrive. Everyone in this class seemed to be an upperclassman. To say she was uncomfortable would be an understatement. For the thousandth time that day Cath wishes that she had taken some classes with Wren while she still could. She stared at her classmates thinking about all the things that pointed her and the other freshmen out; new backpacks and materials, nice looking clothes all looking to make a good first impression. She looked down at her own outfit. _Start how you plan to continue. _She took off her purple glasses and cleaned them on her shirt. Everyone else wore Black Ray Bans even the professors. Cath considered buying herself a pair.

_Monday November 3__rd__ 2006_

_ Cather walks down the halls of her school alone for the first time in her life feeling naked without her sister by her side. Wren had always been the loud and confident one she just followed behind. She silently cursed herself for aiming to be different than her sister by joining Creative Writing instead of Art. If only she hadn't been so intent on having different classes than her sister this year she would be on a plane to Washington with her sister and all their friends instead of walking the hallway alone. She clutched tighter unto her Simon Snow book and headed to class early. Of course the door was locked leaving Cath to deal with the dilemma of finding a distraction until class started. She wanted to just sit and read her book but her sister always told her how lame it was when people did that in the halls. Fuck it, she thought, Wren isn't here._

_ Cath curled up in a nearby bench and started reading. She had always been able to escape through the world of Mages. She was currently re-reading the third book for the fifth time since it came out two years previously. She heard a shuffling and looked up to find a girl had sat next to her and sat with her knees up resting a notebook on her thighs scribbling wildly. The girl was beautiful in a very subtle way. She had long light brown hair that curled and covered her face slightly as she worked. Her tongue peeked out between her lips as she scratched over sentences and wrote in the spaces between the lines with a messy scrawl. She wore a red beanie, ripped jeans and Black Ray Bans that slid slightly down her slanted nose. Cather caught herself staring and turned back to her book but her mind remained on the interesting character next to her. _

_ The bell rung and Cath got up quickly as the teacher opened the door. So quickly in fact she dropped her book and her binders. Her papers flew out and littered the hallway. Cath couldn't do much more than stare at the papers and accept her ill fate to be late now. That is when the girl on the bench put down her notebook and dropped to her knees beginning to pile up the papers on the floor. Cath did the same. They both got up and the brunette handed her a pile of papers their fingers brushing in the transfer. Cath looked down and blushed the girl in the beanie smiled. _

_ "Elizabeth. You are Cath right? The doormat twin" she readjusted her beanie. Cath's smile faded into a bit of a frown. She had never met this girl yet she was already making judgments._

_ "Don't get me wrong, its just an observation, its nice seeing you outside her shadow" _

_ "So you admit to watching me before?"_

_ "Oh look who grew a personality. Nice to meet you Cather." They both went into class and to Cath's surprise Elizabeth sat next to her in Wren's usual seat._

* * *

**Thank you for reading feedback is greatly appreciated. I realize the cliche of the meeting of Elizabeth there is a purpose to this. The story is going to stick close to the plot of the book for the present so if you recognize lines its because they are actually directly quoted from the book. **

**Love and all that,**

**Alex**


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